Damn the French, with all their culture, subtitled films, good-looking rugby players called Jacques and fine wines. Why can’t we beer-imbibing Anglos claim some higher ground with our beverage of choice and engage in a tête-à-tête about the ancestry of the drink we shared over dinner?
Yes, there’s more to life than fine grapes! Where are the beer sommeliers out there, with their richly crafted metaphors about the brown lager at their table, the rippling pilsner on their tongue and the tasty ale they just spilt on the carpet?
Although in a country where some of the favourite tipples are named after a) felines; b) a large religious ruin; or c) part of a boat, I can understand the low visibility, but now we are fighting back! Not only that, we are even getting all philanthropic about it.
Yes, the craft beer company Cerevisia Brewery and their non-profit line, One River Brewing, is hitting the taps and fridges of CharmingVille and we ‘hopsters’ are excited.
But first, what qualifications does this Scribe of Street 130 have to pen in the heady world of ‘beer appreciation’? As a mixed-bred Anglo of Kiwi persuasion, I come from a country where our early European settlers are rumoured to have put beer in their breakfast porridge. And with the explosion of craft beers throughout the ‘land of the long, white cloud’ (soon to be rebranded ‘land of the long, pale beer froth’), I think my credentials are clear. Yes, it is in my blood, my veins run brown and I really am the lush – sorry, ‘man’ – for the job.
So bring on the ale!
My recent encounter with the amber liquid of Cerevisia/One River Brew began promisingly, as the smell of rich fermenting hops greeted me at the door of their newish fandango brewery. Less a backyard operation, these ‘hop heads’ – Erich and ‘Mr Brew’ – are more front-room guys, with a good portion of the latter’s downstairs house transformed into Brew Station Central.
Here, in this space, they strive to create what Phnom Penh has been crying out for (well, a certain apartment in Street 130, at least): quality pale, red and brown ales. Yes, in the Kingdom of Lager we have truly been missing something that harks back to those curry accompanying brews of the Old Country.
Underpinning the entire operation, states Erich – the head business honcho – is a desire to create “community”. Beer, he points out, “brings people together, in good times and in the bad”. Further, through their non-profit line, the business is trying to ensure their product benefits communities that don’t necessarily enjoy ale with their rice. “Our non-profit beer works like this: we will provide it, at cost, to places that wish to stock it and they will then be expected to donate any profit that they make to a not-for-profit organisation of their choice.”
Philanthropy and beer: perfect! But what about the commercial side of the operation? Erich: “We are on tap at Deco and The Exchange, and soon to be at Brooklyn Pizza and Chinese House, while bottled versions of the company’s beer are also on their way.” At a heady alcohol rating around 5.6 %, I’m keen to learn from Mr Brew the secrets to creating good ale. Cerevisia and One River Brewing’s resident beerologist is forthright with his reply: “Brewing and fermentation, conditioning, how you store it and the way it is drunk: they are all important.”
Geometry, apparently, is especially significant. Mr Brew again: “The shape of what beer is stored in during the different stages of the brewing process will have a big impact on the final taste.” So there’s more to it than cracking a tinny? “Definitely!”
There is undeniable fine science here – take that, grape-drinking folk – and while we may not be talking about the Higgs Boson here, to be frank, a dose of dark matter is not what I crave after a workout at the gym.
And, apparently, there is also history. “Recipes for beer date back to the Sumerian Empire and Babylon, even predating those for bread,” notes Mr Brew. Excellent! At last: historic validation for buying a six pack and forgetting the bread.